A LIST OF THE ELSIE BOOKS AND OTHER POPULAR BOOKS BY MARTHA FINLEY _ELSIE DINSMORE._ _ELSIE’S HOLIDAYS AT ROSELANDS._ _ELSIE’S GIRLHOOD._ _ELSIE’S WOMANHOOD._ _ELSIE’S MOTHERHOOD._ _ELSIE’S CHILDREN._ _ELSIE’S WIDOWHOOD._ _GRANDMOTHER ELSIE._ _ELSIE’S NEW RELATIONS._ _ELSIE AT NANTUCKET._ _THE TWO ELSIES._ _ELSIE’S KITH AND KIN._ _ELSIE’S FRIENDS AT WOODBURN._ _CHRISTMAS WITH GRANDMA ELSIE._ _ELSIE AND THE RAYMONDS._ _ELSIE YACHTING WITH THE RAYMONDS._ _ELSIE’S VACATION._ _ELSIE AT VIAMEDE._ _ELSIE AT ION._ _ELSIE AT THE WORLD’S FAIR._ _ELSIE’S JOURNEY ON INLAND WATERS._ _ELSIE AT HOME._ _ELSIE ON THE HUDSON._ _ELSIE IN THE SOUTH._ _ELSIE’S YOUNG FOLKS._ _MILDRED KEITH._ _MILDRED AT ROSELANDS._ _MILDRED’S MARRIED LIFE._ _MILDRED AND ELSIE._ _MILDRED AT HOME._ _MILDRED’S BOYS AND GIRLS._ _MILDRED’S NEW DAUGHTER._ _CASELLA._ _SIGNING THE CONTRACT AND WHAT IT COST._ _THE TRAGEDY OF WILD RIVER VALLEY._ _OUR FRED._ _AN OLD-FASHIONED BOY._ _WANTED, A PEDIGREE._ _THE THORN IN THE NEST._ [Illustration: Frontispiece] MILDRED’S MARRIED LIFE AND A WINTER WITH ELSIE DINSMORE. A Sequel to MILDRED AND ELSIE. BY MARTHA FINLEY (MARTHA FARQUHARSON), AUTHOR OF THE “ELSIE BOOKS,” “MILDRED KEITH,” “MILDRED AT ROSELANDS,” “MILDRED AND ELSIE,” “SIGNING THE CONTRACT,” ETC., ETC. “Domestic happiness, thou only bliss Of paradise that has survived the fall!” COWPER. NEW YORK: DODD, MEAD & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. COPYRIGHT, 1882, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY MILDRED’S MARRIED LIFE. CHAPTER I. “O married love! each heart shall own, Where two congenial souls unite, Thy golden chains inlaid with down, Thy lamp with heaven’s own splendor bright.” ――LANGHORNE. What a happy winter that was!――the first of Mildred’s married life. Her cup of bliss seemed full to overflowing. She was very proud of her husband, and not without reason, for his was a noble character; he was a man of sterling worth, lofty aims, cultivated mind, and polished address. They were a pair of lovers who grew more and more enamored of each other day by day as the weeks and months rolled on. And while the new love flooded Mildred’s pathway with light, the old loves, so dear, so long tried and true, had not to be given up: she was still a member of the home circle, a sharer in all its interests and pleasures, its cares and its joys.